Sometimes a moment doesn’t seem quite real until many days later. Winning a race in crew was one such time. Maybe it wasn’t the winning that seemed unreal, but the actual race. Either way, no emotion can come close to what I felt as I heard the honk signaling the end of my race, before the other teams’.
   

It is a beautiful day with ideal conditions for racing. I am sitting on a broken dock that looks out over the river. My feet dangle over the side and soak in the water.The sun shines brightly overhead, without a cloud in the sky. Today we are going to sprint for 1000 meters. I fumble around nervously as I wait for my race. I am always tense before a race, but today I am even more so than usual because I am going to stroke my very first sprint. (To stroke a boat means to be the head rower in the boat; everyone follows you). As I wait, I watch the varsity boats zip past on the water. One moment they are here, and the next moment gone.
   

“There you are! Come on, our race is going to start in 10 minutes!” A voice suddenly shouts behind me. I turn around and get up. My friend, Ria, has already started leaving.
   

“Wait up, I’m coming!” I call out and start running to catch up. As I run, I catch glimpses of the river through the trees. The water sparkles like diamonds in the sunlight. Soon it will be streaked with boats speeding through. I come out onto the sidewalk and run even faster. I arrive at the loading dock as some boats pull in.  The rowers breathe heavily and wipe the sweat from their brow. Some of them have a look of euphoria on their faces, while others look upset. I look around for my boat.
  

  “ Devyani! Over here!” following the sound of the voice, I find my boat members getting ready to go in. Quickly, I take off my shoes, and check the screws on my seat. Everything seems to be in exceptional working condition. As I do, I look around to the other boats to judge my competition. Each boat has four rowers, and one coxswain (the person who sits at the front and steers the boat). The expressions on the racers’ faces are a mixture of excitement, concern, and confusion. I’m racing against one other boat from my school, and two boats from other schools. “I need a countdown from bow!” My coxswain, Terah, shouts. It’s time. My heart starts pumping faster. She barks out instructions, and I blindly follow. My coach comes to wish me luck, but I barely hear her. Then we set our hands on the wet wood of the dock, and slowly push away.
   

We have to row to the starting line as our warm up. The whole time, I look out on the water. The finish seems so far, much more than 1000 meters. Finally we pull up to the start. The race administrator calls out, “Coxswains, rowers, get ready, set, GO!” I start pumping my arms, and pushing my legs. I feel all right, but I know I can do better. The boat lurches forward, and my heart pumps faster. We are slowly gaining speed when- CRASH! I look around to see a mess. All four boats in this race have collided. There are shouts and giggles while everyone tries to sort it out. The administrators bellow into their loud speakers.

Terah begins to tell us what to do. We obey without questions. “Let’s try that again!” The administrators say, “Ready, Set, Go!” I begin pumping and pushing for a second time. I am given a second chance, and I am determined not to mess it up. My boat is slowly gaining the lead. I pump faster and push harder. My heart does the same. Trees zip past in a green and orange blur. I glance over the boat and watch the water lick the sides.  I keep my mind focused on the rhythm of my movements. Even though I get tired, I don’t let my actions falter. My boat members heavily pant behind me. We pass a boat, then two, but the third boat, a rival school, stays on our tail. This makes me pump harder.

“Come on guys, only a few more strokes to go!” Terah roars. My arms feel like they are about to fall off; my heart feels like it’s going to fly right out. Sweat drips down my face. But I don’t stop. Instead I push faster. Soon it feels like we are flying. Slowly we leave the rival boat behind. “Almost there!” I feel like I’m going to faint, but I muster up all the strength I have left, and push even harder. I’ve never gone this fast, nor have I ever wanted to win this badly. Then I hear the honk. My boat erupts into a cheer! I slowly stop rowing, and splash water into my face. I can barely remember anything about the row back to the dock, and the pats on the back.

Later we all sit near the river, and wait patiently for the final results. The coaches call out the names of the winners, and we clap as they go up to receive their award ( a bag of candy). Finally they call my boat. Terah goes up, gets our bag of candy, and passes the contents out to us. As I nibble on my Twix, I realize that I learnt something today, that doesn’t have to do with rowing; even though the struggle is hard, the result is always sweet.